Unlike many UFO-related accounts in recent years, a whistleblower’s report that the US government possesses ‘intact’ craft of ‘non-human origin’ is being taken very seriously.
According to The Intelligence Brief, former intelligence official David Grusch who led analysis of Unexplained Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) for a US Department of Defense agency, has given classified information to Congress. He accused the government of withholding the information from Congress illegally.
A former UK civil servant, Nick Pope, who investigated the phenomena for the MoD during the 1990s told The Guardian: ‘It’s one thing to have stories on the conspiracy blogs, but this takes it to the next level, with genuine insiders coming forward.’
Former colleagues described Grusch’s character as ‘beyond reproach’ and ‘with the strongest possible moral compass’.
David Wilkinson, a theologian and astrophysicist at Durham University said: ‘I am sceptical, but I think we always have to be open to the evidence.’ Wilkinson is the author of Science, Religion and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (OUP).
Ted Peters, Professor of Systematic Theology at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and at the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences at the Graduate Theological Union, California, commented: ‘What we’ve seen with NASA is a dance to pretend to disclose while keeping who-knows-what in hiding. This is newsworthy, but not anything special for evangelicals Christians to get excited about.’
His 2008 Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey suggested that evangelical Christians ‘overwhelmingly say that God’s creation is big enough to include extraterrestrial intelligent creatures’.
Crucially, is there a theological issue? ‘Yes, there is. It’s subtle’, said Peters. ‘In whom should we trust, scientific progress or the God of grace? Our wider culture believes in progress. Science and technology spearhead our progress. So, a myth has developed. Even some evangelicals subscribe to this myth. It goes like this: if ETI (extraterrestrial intelligence)are more advanced than we earthlings in science and technology, then maybe ETI are more advanced in morality too. If so, ETI could come to earth in UFOs and save earth from self-destruction through nuclear war or ecological degradation?’
Here is where the worry is, Peters commented: ‘Basically, the ETI myth tells us to put our faith in science and technology rather than God. And, if earth’s science and technology leads us to self-destruction, then perhaps a heavenly or extraterrestrial technology can save us. This is a false temptation to trust human achievement over God’s grace. That’s the issue.’
Peters issued a warning: ‘We should never confuse ETI with the true God. No matter how advanced in science or technology our new alien friends might be, earthlings are still morally responsible for war, ecology, and countless other sins.
‘Or, to say it another way, Jesus saves. Don’t ask science and technology to do Jesus’ work, even extraterrestrial science and technology.’
